


Entitlement

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Here There Be Dragons [16]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Discussion-Rape, Established Relationship, Fantasy, Kidnapping, M/M, Murder, Torture, magic is known
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 21:25:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19304131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: It starts with someone from the past trying to take Reed who he thinks is his and ends with Reed taking whatishis.





	Entitlement

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Season 5 (April 2010)  
>  **Spoilers** : Up Through Season 5  
>  **Notes** : This is it, the final Here There Be Dragons story. Thank you all for staying with me over the past three years of writing this.  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly & rivermoon1970

Aaron knew that something was wrong. Even before he opened his eyes. He remembered going into the victim's house, and that was the last thing that he remembered. He tried to think about what had happened just before that, but nothing came to mind. There had been no magic in the house, nothing really. The only thing that stood out was the fact that Aaron had been on edge since the case started. He had not liked going on the case but could not give a reason why. It was a simple abduction, rape, and murder case with three victims before the BAU had been called in. Reed had felt fine in the bond. So, Aaron knew that it was something stirring within his own magic, and since the case began, he had been a little bit off kilter in trying to understand what was wrong.

Taking a careful breath, Aaron tried not to let whoever had him know that he was awake. There was no other noise in the room beside Aaron and his breathing. That did not mean no cameras were recording him or even just glass separating the room Aaron was in and the room on the other side. Aaron reached out slightly with his magic tasting the room as it were and found that it was empty of magic. Aaron tested the bonds holding him onto the chair that he was bound to and found them insecure enough to where he could snap them unless they were fused with magic. He tried his magic on them and found that they were highly magic resistant, and Aaron's mind was still a little muddled from the blow to his head. He would not be able to get the bindings off alone at the moment.

Aaron wondered precisely, who thought it was a good idea to take him. Even if Reed weren't in the picture taking a Judge would make the entire magical community livid, and then the person or persons who took him would have a lot of pissed off creatures knocking at their door. Aaron tried to open his eyes but found he still saw darkness. The room, it seemed, was blacked out, which wasn't a deterrent if Aaron had been at the top of his game, but the concussion was messing with his ability to concentrate. He would have to wait to see how it all played out the next time that he woke up.

There was no way to track how long it took for Aaron to wake up again. He knew that time had passed because his muscles were protesting the position that he was in. Which wasn't a big deal as it would take just a few moments to get them warmed up. There was something that was nagging at the back of Aaron's mind. He followed it and found what was wrong, what had woke him up that time. Aaron felt that his bond with Reed was gone, not gone all the way but obscured and it was not Reed doing it. There were magics at hand that was stopping Aaron from feeling his mate. Aaron knew that the last time it had happened Reed had still been able to track him across nearly the whole of the US, but this time it felt different, at least on Aaron's end. Aaron tried to push down into himself, to find the bond. It was hard, but he did it. He found the bond inside of himself, and he followed it all the way to the end. Which was not Reed.

Aaron tried again, but with the bonds he had with the kids and Aaron knew then that none of the bonds were strong enough. Aaron felt gutted at that. He could feel the tenuous strain on the bonds. They were strong enough not to break but not strong enough to bypass whatever magic was holding Aaron. Aaron knew why his bond with Reed wasn't strong enough; it was because they had not had enough time to forge it that strong yet. It was something that Aaron resented about Jack, Henry, and Bri. The three of them would form a bond between them that was unbreakable because at the ages they were at, they had nothing to jade them against the world. Aaron and Reed had thousands of years to distrust other people, to make themselves reticent to allow anyone that much access to them.

The overwhelming emotion that Aaron felt in that moment sucked. It was a torture of his own making. He had been trying to bond more with the kids, spending time with them, spending time alone with Jack. Hell, he and Jack went on a trip to New York while Reed and JJ cared for Henry and Bri, but still, Aaron found himself hesitant to let that last connection snap into place. It took being kidnapped and kept away from them for him to understand. Aaron had thought he worked through everything, that he knew he wasn't going to lose the three of them like he had lost every other child that he had, the last family he had made, wife and children had died in a horrific car crash. Aaron had broken down in Reed's sheltered embrace one night in the forest that Reed liked to hunt in. Aaron had never let himself feel that emotion from arriving on the scene of the car crash that had killed Haley and could have killed Jack before he even knew he had a son.

Aaron had been made a Judge for North America because he was good at keeping emotion out of his magical rulings. He could make himself feel nothing for long periods of time when it was needed. However, the fact that he was doing it in his personal life and not realizing was not good. Aaron resented the bond that was going to form between the kids because they were going to grow up knowing they had someone there for them always. Aaron and Reed had lost millennia to being apart going from one lover to the next (or something like that). Their bond could have been so strong at this point that nothing could do this to them outside of death.

There was little that Aaron could do about it at that point, but he knew that Reed was closer to him than he had been before. Everything depended on what magic was suppressing the bond as to what was going to happen as far as Reed finding him. The location that he had been taken from had been a place that he had gone alone. Reed and Morgan were needed at the morgue to look at the newest victim's body, Prentiss and Dave were checking out the area where she had been taken from as it had finally been found. So, Aaron had gone to the victim's house alone. JJ had been dealing with the press as they had been circling like vultures.

Aaron knew he was in it for the long haul. He would have to just stay alive so that Reed could find him. Rubbing his cheek on his shirt, one of the few movements that he could do, Aaron figured that he had been there for at least a day. His head felt better, and the hair growth on his chin gave him a rough estimate of time. As far as he knew he had been given nothing to drink or eat in that time though with magic, it was hard to tell if he had been given anything.

There were many reasons to take someone captive. The first aim was to just have that person as a victim or a trophy. Aaron wasn't sure that he wanted to be either one of those. There was a second more likely scenario that this was the UnSub they had been hunting and Aaron was a victim of opportunity, even though he was the opposite gender of the victim pool. There was also the paranoid part of Aaron that was thinking that the whole case was set up because the UnSub had always had this in mind. That Aaron was always the intended victim or even Reed. Aaron being taken was either because he was the target or that the UnSub wanted Reed and was using Aaron to get to him.

None of the situations were good, and it was especially telling that Aaron had not been given food or water by normal means. Aaron wasn't sure about water, but his stomach was starting to hurt, which meant that he had not been given food. Even if he were given food through magical means, his stomach wouldn't ache. Aaron focused on the air around him, feeling it through his magic. He could not conjure food that would actually sustain him, but he could collect water from the air. Aaron settled in and slowly drew on the air around him. It was hard because whatever magic was blocking him from feeling his bonds was also stopping the high order magic Aaron needed to escape.

The UnSub had not come to gloat yet, so Aaron had a bit of a reprieve. He wasn't sure if he wanted the UnSub to show up or not. Right now, nothing was happening, and that was good.

Aaron was just about to where he wasn't able to support taking in water from the air anymore when he smelled something that was off. He tried to stop breathing, but there was no way to do that with the magic that he had on hand. The smell was floral and enticing, and after Aaron took a deep breath, he wanted more. It wasn't until his next breath that Aaron began to feel drowsy. It wasn't just a magic user that had taken him but a potion master as well. That narrowed down who had taken him to a group of roughly one hundred inside of the United States, and eighty in Canada. Aaron wasn't sure who was in from abroad, but potion masters had unique scents, and that meant that Reed would know.

As Aaron passed out from the airborne potion, he hoped that it wasn't a trap.

* * *

Reed settled in at the desk that he had been given to work at in the middle of the bullpen. He had been back from the morgue for ten minutes, and the room that they had been initially given to work in had a pipe bust over it and now was really very wet. The files had been saved, through Reed's magic of drying them out.

"Hey, Pretty Boy," Morgan said as he dropped down into the empty chair that Reed wasn't using. Morgan waited until Reed lifted his head and looked at him before he continued speaking. "Where's Hotch?"

"Is he not back?" Reed looked down at his phone, pressing with a claw to light it up. There was nothing from Hotch on there.

"JJ said he went to the victim's house and hasn't been back, hasn't called. I tried to call him, and I got nothing. I figured if he's in an area with limited cell service, you are the best bet on getting a hold of him."

Reed bobbed his head in agreement and reached out in the bond to Aaron. He smiled as he felt the kids back in DC having a good time, but his heart nearly stopped when he realized that Aaron's connection to the bond was cut. It wasn't muddled like it had been before when Reed had been taken captive or when Reed hid from him in the bond. It was severed. Reed could feel the bond on his end, but there was no connection to Aaron.

"Get a hold of Destara, Morgan. Aaron has been drugged and is hidden from me. I need to go to the victim's house now, and we need to call in another team. We will work the angle that Aaron was taken by the UnSub we are chasing, and they are going to work the case that we came here to work with the assumption that the UnSubs are two different people."

"You got it. I'll recall our team. Rossi and I will take you to where the victim lived. What do we need to take?"

"Vest up and see if they have a SWAT team we can borrow. I don't want to go to that house without backup."

"You stay here and work what you can. JJ will call in another team. Should we have a third that tracks Hotch's kidnapping as unrelated?"

"That's what Destara is going to do. If it's unrelated to the case, she will be best to track that because there are two reasons unrelated to the case that he would be taken. As Judge and as my mate. She can work those better than a BAU team can because she has access to everything. There is a lot of things that even the FBI is not allowed to know about what Aaron does as Judge."

"Let's rally the troops, and I'll figure out what kind of SWAT unit they have that we can use. I don't think that they will mind given we are here to help them, and one of ours got taken."

Reed nodded his head, his brain focused more on trying to track down Aaron in the bond. Whoever this was, they were good. To be able to subvert the bond and not have Reed know was damned good. Whoever it was they were around for a long time. Reed started to reach out to find areas that were high in magic, tapping into the ley lines that ran through the area.

"Huh," Reed said aloud.

"What's wrong?" one of the officers asked. He was stuck doing paperwork after a trip had him spraining his ankle just a few days before, so he had been Reed's help when he was in the office.

"One of ours is missing, and it wasn't until just now when I tapped into the ley lines that I noticed that there are none that run through his town, around it yes but not through it. That's rare. Even though plain humans can't feel the magic that ley lines make, every single city is built on a ley line. Some of the cities that have weird shapes are from ley lines that intersect, and everything grows out from them. This town, though, is built away from ley lines."

"The founder was a religious fanatic who despised magic, and that was why it was built like it was. We have a few newer areas that have ley lines touching but like you said nothing through the main part of town."

"What was the man's name?"

"Leland Connors."

Reed looked at the man and frowned. Connors was a rare magical name, but there were a few. There was one person that Reed knew who had a mother with that maiden name. Reed wondered if they were related.

"Ready?" Morgan asked as he exited the Captain's office. He held out his arm, and Reed shrunk down to large bird size and ran and jumped toward him, landing on his arm before crawling up to settle on his shoulder. "SWAT will meet us."

"Good."

The trip to the victim's house was the longest of Reed's life. Morgan's SUV was the first one to arrive, but the SWAT van was next. Reed waited for Morgan to get out before he jumped out of the window. As soon as Reed had his feet on the ground below him, he growled. There was a scent in the air. A smell that Spencer knew well and hadn't smelled in nearly a thousand years. A potion master.

"Are they regular SWAT or magical?" Reed asked.

"Half and half. It's a large squad because of that."

"Okay then, I want magical SWAT with me, you take the regular and secure the outside area."

"You got it."

Reed manipulated his size to that of a huge dog and looked at SWAT as they moved around him. They were waiting for him, which was a good thing. He was going to be the best bet on finding hidden traps. Human magicals were taught magic, High Dragons and other magical creatures were born from magic, learning was needed to control it but not to use it. Reed's control was good if there was no outside influence on him from another source. Which thankfully, he did not have this time. His wings were mostly healed, not enough to where he risked changing into his human form but enough to where he wasn't in pain most of the time. Reed shuffled a little closer to the house, tasting the air. He could still taste the ingredients for potions in the air but not enough to say that the woman who had been taken and killed had been one, but that one had spent a while here. Spencer wondered why the UnSub risked coming back if he was the one who had been leaving the scent everywhere. If the UnSub who had taken Aaron was not the UnSub of the case, then the person who took Aaron had taken a lot of risks to get him.

Just inside the door that was wide open, Reed paused and licked the air again. He could taste the sleeping potion on the air. It had been tossed at Aaron, but the smell of blood and the taste of it on the air said that Aaron had been knocked on the head first.

"Do any of you know the fine art of bottling a potion that's been tossed on the floor?" Reed asked as he looked back at the SWAT team. "I would do it, but I have not great control with telekinesis spells and doing the potion spell at the same time."

"I do, Sir," one of the men at the back said, and he raised his hand.

"Good. A sleeping potion was tossed at our Unit Chief. There is blood mixed in as well."

"I can separate that out easily. I need to go back to the car. Don't go further."

"Believe me, I won't. I don't control my size well under sleeping potions. No one needs me to destroy the house."

"Sir, Agent Morgan is holding the perimeter with the rest of the team," the SWAT agent right behind Reed said.

"Good. Have him search but don't touch anything. I want to make sure that nothing was left out there for us to find."

Reed listened as the orders were relayed and he heard Morgan faintly answer. The sound of footsteps heralded the return of the other SWAT agent, and he crouched at Reed's side until he saw the potion. Reed felt the man's magic on his body as he crafted and released the mental spell that would pick up the potion from the floor and the wall. Spencer watched the pale pink potion form a ball in the air and then started to pour itself into the bottle that was being held by a steady hand. The potion was pink, and that meant that it was the potion master who had Aaron. The potion was a darker red, the more unrefined it was. For it to be a pale pink, that meant it was a damned good potion master.

Only when the cap was twisted onto the bottle did Reed move forward. The blood was indeed on the wall where Aaron had hit his head after being struck. There was only a little on the floor where he had fallen, so Aaron had not been there long. Reed was glad of that. He started to walk further into the house and found that little was disturbed. Aaron was the only one taken from the house, so Reed wasn't shocked by that. It meant that it had been a blitz attack.

"Sir," the man who had bottled the potion said. He was pointing down. Reed looked down to see that the blood that had been on the wall and floor was moving. It formed a single magic sigil.

"We are going to find little here but have CSU come in and take care of everything," Reed said. He was barely holding onto his emotions. Reed looked at the SWAT team and jerked his head toward the rest of the house. They moved carefully past him, and when Reed was clear, he turned and walked out of the house. There was nothing but fallow fields around with grass and weeds growing in them. He walked right into the middle of one, grew to his preferred size when he was dealing with humans that were hostile and roared. Even Reed could feel the ground shake, and the air nearly exploded from the force of the roar. When he was done, he didn't feel better so he inhaled as deep as he could, feeling the fire in his gut burning and he let loose in a direction that there were no humans. The field caught fire, but when Reed inhaled again, the flames died.

"Reed?" Rossi asked, but Reed didn't feel any better still, so he ignored the human.

Reed looked around at Rossi to make sure he was back far enough, and he let loose again, the land around him was going to die, but it would be reborn at a later time. The air crackled with power and even to Reed's eyes, he could see the electricity arcing around in the air. As he let that go on, the pulses dancing over his body became bigger and bigger. He could feel the static in the air as it settled all around him. He could see in his mind what he looked like. After modern advances in photography and video recording, Reed had footage taken of him. He knew that like this, he was beautiful and it was a lure to some humans. He wouldn't be shocked if when he turned around to look, all of the SWAT, as well as Morgan and Rossi, were going to be watching him.

When that urge to rip and shred and kill was gone, Reed let the electricity go, and he turned to face Morgan and Rossi who separated Reed from the large SWAT team. Reed walked to where Morgan and Rossi were, shrinking to the size of a horse before he got to them.

"I know who has him, and I'm going to finish what it seems I didn't almost six years ago."

"That was when you were taken captive," Morgan said.

"Yes, and I thought I had ripped Ethan's throat out then, but it seems that he lived or someone is making every effort to make me think it's him. That sigil in the blood back there is something that Ethan and I used through the years to let each other know that we were safe after a battle. It was always done in our blood. There are few who know that and those who do, they would never do this."

"Ethan is the one who chained you and gave you to the trafficker, wasn't he?" Rossi asked.

"Yes. Whatever happens next, Rossi, there will be a bloodbath at the end of it, and if Aaron is harmed, I won't see reason. I will not suffer the loss of my mate."

"We understand. What can we do?"

"I need Alan on the phone. This SWAT team is now ours. I don't give a fuck where we go to get to Aaron. I don't trust the idiots that the council has put into their magical SWAT unit and Alan has not been able to get through all of them. Destara will need to be on hand, she is about the only one that can contain me. I would say Tria and Serena, but this could be over before they get here."

"You got it," Morgan said. He pulled out his phone and started to dial. One of the SWAT members walked up behind him and touched the phone. It went to speakerphone but magically enhanced. "Thanks."

"No problem. I'll call the Captain and tell him what's going on. How powerful is this Ethan person?"

"He's high level but nowhere near high enough that he could get far using magic. He's in this state."

"I'll get the borders locked down and start the hunt. The State Police have good magical trackers. I'll have one come here and start the hunt."

"Oh, I won't need that. He's not going far. He wants me to find him. I don't know why yet, but he wanted me to find him."

"Who?" Alan asked.

"Ethan is alive and has Aaron."

"That's what that was. Destara called me and said there was a huge disturbance that could be felt hundreds of miles away."

"That was for Ethan. That way, he knows that I am coming for him."

"And if I asked you to keep him alive?" Alan asked.

"Then I would rip your arm off to beat you with it the next time I saw you."

"Happy hunting. I'll get Destara's secondary team for bloodbath clean up. I'll be on the ground as soon as I can."

Reed nodded for Morgan to cut the connection. He looked at the SWAT team. All of them were relaxed but ready to go. They would help take care of getting to Ethan. Reed didn't figure that it would be that hard. Ethan was setting a trap, but the trap wasn't going to spring until it was too late. Ethan just didn't understand what he was getting himself into when he had taken Aaron.

"Morgan, whatever you do, do not shift when we get to Ethan. I will not be able to control myself at all, and I will see you as prey." Reed did not want to hurt his friends. Morgan nodded his head as he slipped his phone into the case at his hip.

"You got it."

"We have two others shifters on the team," the leader of the SWAT team said. "I'll make sure they know."

"What are they?"

"Peregrine Falcon and a house cat."

"Interesting for a SWAT team."

"George is the house cat, and he can get to places that we can't. Same with the falcon. Never once did George let anyone take shit from him especially after he was instrumental in getting a kid out of a situation because he was able to get into the house without anyone seeing him and getting the kid out a window to us. Everyone on this team is here because I want them to be."

"Both of their forms will be fine. I don't attack cats, and I don't attack birds. I can't fly so the falcon will be needed."

"Yes, I heard about the damage done to your wings. I'm glad you don't have them braced with outside materials anymore."

"Been keeping an eye have you?" Reed asked.

The man just shrugged.

"Let's go and start your hunt, Reed," Morgan said.

* * *

Aaron felt the change in the air around him. He felt the static of Reed's electricity. Aaron wasn't sure if that meant he was close or that pissed off. Aaron didn't know which he wanted. There was also a different charge to the air, a different form of electricity. Not Reed's. Aaron forced his head up and took in the man in front of him. What stood out the most was the scars on his neck, they looked like he was mauled by a wild creature. Aaron was shocked that he survived it. The man was looking at Aaron like he hated him. Aaron was kind of used to that. A lot of people who Aaron didn't know hated him, for the magic that he had, the prestige of being Judge, and even more recently having the first public Dragon as a mate. The world had known about Dragons for a long time, but seeing one in human form, the old whispers that were coming true were setting a few ill at ease. Aaron wondered what side of the fence this man fell on.

"So am I to die here?"

"Yes," the man said. His voice was raspy, probably from poorly healed vocal cords after his near death at the hands of whatever creature had done that to him. "But not before Spencer gets here. I want him to watch you die, feel that fake bond that you made on him shatter and realize that you were keeping him from his true mate."

Aaron wasn't going to a say a word on that. The way that the man said Spencer had sent chills down Aaron's spine. Whoever he was, he was deluded and not quite right in the head.

"He was mine before he was ever yours and whatever you did to him, whatever you forced him to do, I'm going to nurse him back to health."

Aaron shook his head and looked down. That explained why he felt weak. He saw the blood runes on the floor. He wasn't sure what they were, the magic of them was tribal in nature, so this man had to have come from an area where tribal magic was handed down. Probably where he had been healed as well.

"You never deserved him, and I wish that he had ripped your throat out when you took him from where I was teaching him a lesson."

Aaron's head snapped up as he looked at the man because in that instant, Aaron knew precisely who he was and whatever was going to happen to him, it was years too late. Reed wasn't going to let him die fast this time. He was going to play, and Aaron was okay with that. Ethan needed to die, and he needed to do it horribly. Aaron just hoped that he was awake for it.

"Oh Ethan," Aaron said, and Ethan jerked a little, telling Aaron that he hoped to keep who he was a secret. "You don't even understand what you have done. You don't understand how horrible your death is going to be. If you thought that when Reed ripped out our throat that it was a painful way to die, even if you didn't, it's nothing compared to what is coming. You are going to die horribly, and you are going to wish that I got my hands on you. If you let me go right now, I can give you a peaceful death. Kill you swiftly before Reed gets here to kill you."

"His name is Spencer!" Ethan screamed as he rushed forward, stopping just at the edge of the runes on the floor. "That stupid name that you gave him demeans who he is. He's Spencer, and he's mine."

Aaron looked into Ethan's eyes, and all he saw was lust and thirst for power. Ethan wanted Reed for what he was instead of who he was. That was why Reed had never become more than friends with him. If things had been different, Aaron could have seen himself getting jealous of the friendship between those two. Ethan had seemed like a good friend before he had gone insane and sold Reed to a magic creature trafficker. Aaron wasn't sure what kind of reaction Reed was going to have when he came into the room to see him. Unless that discharge of his magic and electricity was from him figuring it out.

Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial. The liquid inside was a pale pink, almost purple color. Aaron had no clue what it was. He frowned as he realized that the vial was a breakable one. One that Aaron used for his own poisons.

"You won't get to see him," Ethan said as he stepped back toward the door. He opened it and stepped into the hall before tossing the vial down. The door was shut, and Aaron was left to take in whatever the potion was. It turned into a mist as soon as the air started to mix with it, and Aaron knew that he was not going to be able to not inhale it.

Aaron felt the burning in his nose as he took in the potion and waited for whatever was to come. The burn subsided, and Aaron wasn't sure what it was going to do as nothing else hurt. Until his eyes started to burn and Aaron could feel fluid of some kind running down his face. He wasn't sure if it was the poison leaking back out of him after damaging his eyes or blood, hell it could be tears. Aaron forced his eyes open after several minutes of pain and found that he could not see. That was what Ethan meant by the fact that Aaron wouldn't see Reed. Aaron knew that if a potion harmed him, it could be fixed. Aaron's natural immunities made it hard for potions to hurt him long term.

Reed was coming for him, Aaron knew that. He just had to wait to see what happened.

* * *

The house was very innocent, looking, sitting in the middle of the woods. Reed watched as no one came in and out of it for a while. Ethan and Aaron were inside, Reed could feel them inside of there. Aaron was in pain, and that was making Reed's blood rise. He could feel that he was becoming feral, so he tamped down on that. He left that little fire burning though because he was going to raze that place to the ground if he needed to. Aaron was leaving there whether Ethan wanted him to or not.

"It's secure, Reed," Morgan said over the comms. Rossi was standing beside Reed so that he could hear the comms even though there was no unit that they had that fit his ears at the size he was now.

Reed walked closer to the edge of the cliff they were on. Imaging of the area showed the best way for them to get where they needed to be. This gave them a good eye, and there were snipers on the top that were trained on the exits.

"I'm going in alone at first. You can have Peters track me. When I roar after getting inside, that means it's clear for you guys to come in. His magic is beyond all of you."

"Just stay safe man, I don't want to be the one to tell Hotch that you let yourself get hurt worse or died trying to free him."

"Ethan won't be able to harm me again." Reed looked at the house again, and then he roared. Every human in the area covered their ears, and even Morgan did. The whole team was there. Ethan wasn't going to escape. Reed jumped down, growing to the size of the house as he landed, shaking the ground and the house. The door to the house was already open, and Reed shoved his head inside before thrashing it around to break anything that might be written on the walls. He felt no magic break, but still, he waited before entering. Reed shrunk down to where he could fit through the door. He could feel that Aaron and Ethan were in the basement. Reed debated how to get down there the most efficient way.

Reed's magic crackled on his skin. It wanted free. It hadn't got a good work out in a long while because Reed was constrained by the damage to his wings, now though he was healed enough to where he could do some major damage. Reed backed out of the doorway and looked at the house. It was old and in disrepair. He knew that it was abandoned, the owner having died a long time before and it just sat unused as no one wanted to buy it. Reed dug his claws into the ground and released his magic in a slow sliver from his body. He removed the first and second story part of the house from the foundation before he turned back to look at Morgan.

"Get everyone back," Reed said. He waited until the SWAT members were safe before he unleashed his fire on the top part of the house. He kept it all controlled and used his magic to hold the parts of the house into a towering inferno that raged until it was just ashes. Reed summoned a storm that washed away the ashes as well to make sure that nothing caught fire. There was just the underside of the floor and the entryway that led to the basement. Reed knew that Ethan wasn't going to be scared, but Reed wanted him to know what kind of power he was holding inside of himself. Ethan had never understood that. He had seen it all as a joke, as something that Reed worried about too much. Reed stepped up to what was left of the flooring and grew in size again. He was huge and able to lay his clawed paw down on the flooring. He curled his claws, digging into the wood to pull it up. He felt Aaron on the far side, so it wasn't going to hurt him if part f the floor collapsed down. Ethan though was right below. Reed pushed and pushed until the floor gave way. He felt the magic of the SWAT team protecting the area that wasn't where Ethan was.

"Spencer!" Ethan yelled as the wood finally gave way and fell down around him. When it was all done, and the room was open to Reed, Reed looked down at Ethan trapped by the wood. He looked scared, but he also looked defiant. "I'm trying to save you!"

"You are trying to kill me," Reed said, and he allowed the one thing that he kept in check the most out. He felt that burn in his gut but not from the fire like he usually used but from electricity. The air started to crackle from Reed, holding it inside of himself. Ethan looked more and more frantic as he tried to get the wood off of himself so he could try and escape. Ethan had seen him kill someone like this once, a man who had used a battle rage to rape a woman he wanted who had kept on refusing him. Reed had chased him down and caught him, pinning a leg to the ground with a claw shoved through the calf and fried him. Reed jumped down, shrinking to the size where he could reach down and pin Ethan with a single claw.

"SPENCER PLEASE!" Ethan yelled, but Reed ignored him. He opened his jaws and let it loose. It took seconds for Ethan to start to die, but Reed pushed his magic into keeping his heart beating and his brain alive, protecting the both of them while the nerves in the rest of his body were fried. Only when Ethan was able to not process any more pain did Reed drop the magic protecting his heart and brain and Ethan died before the magic was even gone. Only then did Reed let up with the electricity.

Reed didn't spare Ethan another thought as he shrunk down to get to where he could fit through the doorway into the room that Aaron was in. Aaron was untied but sitting in a chair. Reed could see where he had been bound though like Ethan had released him just before Reed had got there. There were runes and sigils everywhere in the room, keeping Aaron there and keeping Reed from getting through. Reed's brain processed the runes and the fact that they were made with Aaron's blood. Only Reed could get through them because of that, Aaron's magic, even the trace amounts in his blood would only give to Reed, but some runes blocked anyone but a human from getting through.

"He wanted to kill me to save you. He's fucking insane." Aaron looked up, and Reed saw the blood tracks down his face that came from his eyes.

"He's dead," Reed said.

"So quick?" Aaron's voice was full of emotion, and some of that was directed at Spencer over the bond. Now that they were at least close, Reed could feel a little bit of Aaron in the bond.

"That depends on which side you were on. If you were Ethan, it probably felt like it took years. I fried him alive, keeping his heart beating and his brain intact, Aaron. He felt every single one of the nerves in his body as it slowly was singed by my electricity. It's a death that I save for the most heinous of crimes. Ethan knew exactly what was coming because he had seen me use it before. He knew, and I don't feel sorry about it. Let's worry about you." Reed looked at Aaron's face, his eyes were red. He was looking at Reed but kind of not. Aaron was blinded. "What did he do to you?"

"I've not had food, and he blinded me with a potion of some kind. He said that I would never see you again though I don't think that he meant that he was blinding me forever, just that I wouldn't see you before he killed me." Aaron cocked his head to the side. "Why aren't you touching me?"

"The runes are a little tricky," Reed said, evading actually answering. He walked around Aaron to find a hole in the runes. There was none. Ethan had been planning this for a long time, and he knew Reed's own knowledge of the runes. Reed's intimate familiarity with being able to read them and understand them. Reed swallowed and looked into the room where Morgan was. He was still in SWAT gear that had been loaned to him. He looked upset but not at what Reed had done, just that he had even needed to do it. He also looked a little worried as he looked at Aaron.

"Can you free me?" Aaron asked. Reed looked at him and saw the fear written on Aaron's face. Reed hated that the look of fear was there on his face.

"Yes." Reed took a few steps back and looked at Morgan again. "The runes are just tricky, and I need to make sure that I can do it without harming you. Morgan, see if the team has any Valerian root and lavender on them."

"Sure, Reed."

Reed said nothing as Morgan climbed out of the area and then was gone for several minutes before he came back with several bottles. Reed took the liquid forms of both. The Essence was going to work better than anything. He set them down and gently rolled them across the edge of the runes.

"There are two bottles directly in front of you. I need you to put a drop of each into the palm of your hand and mix them and then put them on your eyes. It's going to burn, but it will clear up the potion that he used on them. It should not burn as much as when he hurt your eyes, though. It's not going to be instant. It will just help your eyes heal at a very fast rate so don't be shocked if you can't see immediately."

"Okay," Aaron said as he slipped to his knees. He reached out carefully and found the first bottle and then the second before moving up to sit in the chair again. It was a good stable point for him. There were protections in the runes that protected Aaron from outside harm that was not at Ethan's hand. Which meant that Reed could have done a lot more to the area and not hurt Aaron, but then Reed had no way of knowing that before he had seen it. Reed's eyes caught the small section of runes that had been hidden by Aaron's legs the way that he had been sitting. Reed's gut clenched. He needed to move, and he needed to move now.

"Reed, we are going to get the body out of here. Rossi's already talking to Alan and making sure that we are going to be ready to leave when you are." Morgan didn't enter the room, and Reed nodded his head before he looked at Morgan for a second before looking back at Aaron.

Reed walked to where Morgan was and leaned in close, Morgan leaned down to meet him halfway as Reed was still pretty small. "It's going to be at least two or three days before Aaron, and I can leave once I get him out of this rune circle."

"Okay, I'll update JJ."

Reed walked back to the circle and waited for Aaron to get the mixture onto his finger. "Just smear it around your eyelids and try not to get it on your eye directly. That will just hurt more. Your skin and natural magic will take in what it needs to heal yourself quicker."

"Okay. It's a pretty simple little potion here."

"Sometimes, simple is better. It was the foundation of a lot of what I've done over the years for magic. There are times when even magic users think too hard on a subject and just mess it up." Reed prepared himself for what was coming. Usually, Reed would try and figure out a different way to get Aaron out of the runes that he was encased in, but this time Reed had a time limit. Reed had a very short time because, without a drop of Ethan's blood in the next two hours, the runes were going to kill Aaron. Reed shuddered because he knew there were two outcomes of what he was getting ready to do, but he just hoped that if it was the second that Aaron could figure out a way to get him back.

"It's already feeling better," Aaron said as he wiped his hand on his pants leg. He looked at where Reed was, knowing he was there because of their magic and nothing else.

"Good. I love you. I love you more than I ever thought possible when I used to dream about my mate. I loved the idea of you before I met you, but I think that I loved you before I met you as well."

"Reed?" Aaron stood up and walked to the edge of the runes. He pressed his hand to the barrier made by the runes like it was glass.

Reed didn't move for a few seconds. He had no way of doing what Aaron wanted him to until he did what he needed to get Aaron out. Reed forced the change onto his body that he had been not doing for what felt like forever. He reached out and pressed his hand to the barrier, not pushing through not just yet. He had to change everything else first.

From the moment that Reed had learned how to go from one form to another, he had been a master at changing just parts of his body. He had learned how to change just his tongue from Human to Dragon to scare the people around him in a joke. He had learned how to turn fingers into claws to protect himself and others. Reed had never felt such pain though as he forced the change to his body, despite the pain, he kept his eyes open. He watched as wings turned to arms merging with his front legs to turn into limbs. He shuddered as the pain started to overwhelm him. He forced his mind to stay on task, though because he needed to do one more thing before he passed out. As Dragon turned to Human, Spencer braced his arms with magic like Aaron used to do to his wings so that he could free his mate. He halted his progress just a little to push forward through the barrier. Aaron stepped back, his face full of pain as he felt what Spencer was doing to himself. In such a close area to each other, there was no way for Spencer to hide what he was doing from Aaron. Aaron though kept his mouth shut about telling him not to do it. He probably felt Spencer's determination.

It felt like years before Spencer was fully standing there in front of Aaron for the first time in months. Spencer stepped all the way through the barrier and felt half of the runes breaking just from that act. He reached out and turned a finger back into a claw to slice at his arm just a little. He muttered a few words to change the blood as it fell. As soon as it fell to the ground, Spencer's will to stay awake disappeared.

* * *

Aaron felt the pain that Reed was giving off and frowned because it meant that whatever was wrong with Aaron, why he was trapped wasn't good, and it was causing his mate pain. Then the pain changed. It became sharper, more. Aaron heard the change from Dragon to Human. Reed had changed into Spencer or from Spencer to Reed enough times that Aaron knew the sound of magic crackling just slightly. Aaron stepped forward as the magic crested, and then it felt like it died out in one sudden breath.

Spencer fell into Aaron's arms as he stepped forward. Aaron sunk down to the ground with him. He was out cold, Aaron could barely feel his mind. Aaron turned Spencer onto his back, tracing his hands over Spencer's face and then down his arms. He could feel that Spencer's magic that was holding his arms together was failing. He shored it up to make sure that his arms didn't get hurt more.

"What do you need?" Morgan asked. His voice was close, and Aaron turned toward him. There was a barely there shape that he hoped was Morgan.

"I need to get us out of here, and we need to get Spencer to a hospital." Aaron leaned over and pressed his forehead to Spencer's. He felt something, and he followed that little trail. It was their bond, it was healthy and vibrant. Aaron could feel his own hesitance in the bond and set about getting rid of that. He grabbed onto the bond like Reed had done so long ago and he forced it into submission. As he did, he felt Spencer take a deep breath and exhale in one long, slow process. He was more settled than he had been in a long time.

"How do you want to do it? Do you want me to carry him or do you want to carry him, and I'll help to lead you out?"

"I'll carry him. I don't think that I'll settle unless I am the one carrying him."

"We have an ambulance outside. I wasn't sure what your status was going got be."

"I'm a little weak from hunger, but the hospital can fix that up. Spencer's in no danger but a warded room will be best for him to settle in. I have no clue what his magic is going to do about the fact that he forced this."

"I know he said it could kill him or render him insane. Why did he do this?"

"I don't know and I won't until I see the runes."

"I'll send Rossi in to take pictures so that when you can see again, you can tell us why he did it." Morgan was closer now, and Aaron felt his hand on his shoulder. Morgan moved behind Aaron to help him stand up with Spencer in his arms. Morgan didn't try and touch Spencer, which Aaron was grateful for because he didn't know what his magic, what the bond would force his magic to do if Morgan seemed like a threat.

Aaron could feel the feralness of Reed just under his skin. He would have to ask Serena about that because it felt like he was going to go feral if anyone even tried to touch Spencer. Aaron kept that emotion down though, he did not need to become a feral Immortal while he was being rescued. Reed had eliminated the threat before he had rescued Aaron. It would be the only reason that he had made himself as vulnerable as he had. Aaron followed behind Morgan using his magic to track the man's speed as they walked up the stairs. Aaron felt a breeze.

"This led outside?" Aaron asked.

"No," JJ said as she stayed where she was. Aaron could feel the whole team in his magic. "Reed destroyed, well burned down, the entire house."

"It's a blunt force option for dismantling wards and runes. His magical fire can quickly destroy them. It was the safer option for the house, given that Ethan had as much time as he did to prepare this. I would say that he had been creating this house, building it up to what he wanted since he survived giving Reed to the trafficker. I figure that he was always going to go back for him. I think that the trafficker was a lesson."

There was silence after Aaron finished speaking, and then a new person came forward. Aaron felt that control slip a little, and he growled.

"Agent Hotchner, my name is Betsy, and you had better shut your trap!" the woman, Betsy, said.

Aaron felt the magic of a healer inside of her, and he settled down, just a little bit.

"Good. Now I have a gurney here for the two of you. I'm going to see to your transport to home base. Now is Doctor Reid in need of anything at the moment?"

"No."

"You?"

"Food."

"Okay, then. What kind of food do you want? We can stop anywhere between here and the hospital. I think that something you want is going to be better than anything at the hospital."

"You are going to go through a drive through?" Morgan asked.

"Why not? Agent Hotchner understands more about what Doctor Reid needs, and he doesn't seem to be in a rush to get him to the hospital, and Doctor Reid feels fine to me. He needs sleep and to let his magic heal him. My job is to make sure that Agent Hotchner is fine. He's been in the hands of an enemy for hours, and he's been tortured with blindness. I'm worried about his magic and not the Dragon's. Dragons are smart and are not stupid, unlike Humans, even Humans as old as this one." Betsy glared at Aaron, Aaron could feel the gaze of the woman even though he was still mostly blind. He could see shadows moving around him.

"Neither of us are small men."

"Then it's a good thing that I brought the really big gurney and the really big ambulance, isn't it?" Betsy asked.

Aaron figured that she was used to dealing with people who thought they knew better than her about healing. Aaron wasn't going to fight that. He didn't need that kind of negativity in his life.

"You can step forward two six inch steps and then you can settle Doctor Reid down onto the gurney. I will not need to strap you in as there is magic all over the thing to stop anyone from falling out. It will help stabilize Doctor Reid as well to make sure that he doesn't hurt himself more. It's sentient magic on the gurney and will react more the less lucid someone is. So as long as you don't knock yourself stupid, you'll be fine."

"Yes, Ma'am," Aaron said as he stepped up like she told him to. He felt the gurney brush at his hips before he laid Spencer down. Spencer shifted, trying to get close to Aaron again, so Aaron nimbly crawled over him and laid on the other side. Spencer curled, even passed out like he was toward Aaron. The bond seeking comfort to know that he was safe. There wasn't going to be a thing that would stop them from ever finding each other again. Aaron felt the bond settle while they were in the room, settle in a way that bound them for eternity in a way that only the High Dragons and their mates could. Aaron had been doing a lot of reading, some of its history and some it journals of Serena's about her bond with Tria. It had helped Aaron learn more about the bond between him and Spencer.

Aaron closed his eyes as the gurney started to move. He couldn't see well enough for the ride to be good, so Aaron felt better with his eyes closed. Spencer scooted closer, so Aaron wrapped his arms around him, making sure that his arms were not being hurt. Aaron felt content and safe in a way that he had not realized he wasn't feeling since Spencer had been taken and tortured by Sean. Aaron felt the ambulance start up, and then the doors started to shut.

"One of us is going with him," Dave said.

"Well, no one said anything, so I assumed you all were just going to stay. If you don't speak up, then no one will hear you. So get your asses in gear."

"Morgan," Dave said.

"Oh that's it, send the shifter," Betsy said. The tone was serious, but Aaron could hear an undercurrent of a smile in her tone as well.

The ambulance rocked a little, and then the doors were shutting. Aaron listened as Betsy checked them over with magic. He felt the world slipping away a little bit at a time, and he knew that he was falling asleep and he was pretty sure that Betsy was going to be pissed, but Morgan knew what kind of food Aaron liked. It wasn't like magic couldn't keep his food hot for him.

* * *

The first Pixie that flew into the shared hospital room shocked Aaron so much that he actually pulled his gun. He had woke up with his eyes fully healed, helped along by Betsy as they had been driven to the hospital. She did have the ambulance stop at a diner to have Morgan get Aaron a meal that he would eat. It had been kept under stasis while Aaron slept. Aaron had woke up hungry and had been shoving fries into his mouth when the Pixie flew into the room. Aaron had found his gun in his holster at his bedside and held it on the creature. It had just stared at him until he lowered the gun. Pixies were rare but not unknown, not to someone like Aaron. The Pixie had flown to Spencer and touched his ankle before flying away. Aaron had felt the rush of magic from that.

Aaron was just finishing up eating when Morgan came back into the room with another Pixie behind him.

"So the hospital has an issue," Morgan said as he looked back at the Pixie.

"Can they open the warding on this room to allow them to come and go through the window?" Aaron asked as the Pixie flew past Morgan finally and touched Spencer's ankle. It glared at Morgan and then flew to the window, phasing through it.

"I'll ask. A few have got through and are trying to get to him. Do you know what's going on?" Morgan asked.

"Not really but that one and the other that has made it in here have given Spencer magic. His arms are healing just very slow, faster than they were before, but the bones are still resisting magic. He's burning through his magic to heal before he wakes up, so I think that the creatures are feeling his pain and trying to help. He used up a lot of magic and broadcast it when he was freeing me. I'm not shocked that some of the creatures in the area know that he needs help."

Aaron looked down at Spencer who was still on his side and tucked as closer to Aaron as he could get. The magical splints on his arms were still holding, but Aaron could feel the bones knitting themselves back together. Aaron laid a hand on Spencer's shoulder. Spencer was in his own sleeping clothes, so Aaron was sure that Betsy had someone get them clothes from their go bags. Aaron was also in his sleep clothes which he felt a little weird about just noticing that he was not in the clothes that he had been kidnapped in.

"Well, I'll find someone who can manage the wards in the room. Betsy said that she made sure the room was locked down pretty tight in case Reid started to throw off magic."

"Good. Thanks for the food." Aaron finished off the last onion ring before he smiled at Morgan and shoved the tray with the food away.

"Betsy was getting you food no matter what. The drivers didn't fight her at all. She's a little powerhouse."

"A lot of magical healers are. They use finesse when it will get them what they need and brute force every other time. I've known a lot of them in my long life."

"No doubt. Betsy locked the room down to where only a few staff can enter and the team. She had the rest stop by. You've been asleep for about eight hours. Betsy doesn't seem worried about getting Reid to eat."

"Magic will sustain him. He'll be starving when he wakes up, but magic will keep him going until such a time as he can eat. It's why Dragon magical cores are so deep. He could technically live from a hundred years, if his magic core was full and he didn't expend much, without eating."

"Damn." Morgan waved goodbye and stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Aaron was about to pull his legs up to sit on the bed cross-legged, but a faerie entered the room from the bathroom. Aaron watched as he looked around the room, fluttering to and fro before he settled on the end of the bed. He watched as the faerie spread his hands out on the bed a little, straightening out the sheet.

"Who are you?"

"Name's Gregorio. My clan followed Master Spencer to Vegas when he settled there for a while. We follow him around as he finds places to settle down and live. I flew here to Montana as soon as possible. I bring this." Gregorio reached out and touched Spencer's ankle. Aaron felt the transfer of magic, and it was more than a normal Faerie of his breed could hold on his own. Gregorio slumped down to the bed after, scooting up to lay across Spencer's foot. Spencer didn't move like he usually did when a Faerie touched him and that helped Aaron settle that this one really was one that knew Spencer. Aaron wondered if when Spencer was more settled if the Faeries were going to come and stay in DC. There was land that Aaron owned close to the house. The land between was up for sale, and he could buy the house and the land and then separate them. He would add the land to his and then sell the house. It would give the Faeries a place to live. Aaron wondered if other creatures wanted to follow and live near Spencer.

Aaron watched as the Faerie napped for about ten minutes before getting up. He crawled up the bed and kissed Spencer's cheek before flying to the window. Just like the Pixie, it flew through the glass. It flew back to it though on the outside and pressed a hand to it. Aaron found that odd, but he didn't get up to do anything. He stayed there with Spencer in the bed. It was a huge bed, they could lay on their backs twice over and not fall out. Aaron wondered if Betsy thought that Spencer would change back into his Dragon form while sleeping. Aaron didn't think so, but it was nice to be prepared just in case. The thing was that if Spencer shifted while asleep, he always went to cat-sized and thankfully not horse sized.

For two nights and one day, Spencer slept. Aaron watched over him, watched as all manner of creatures came in and out, giving their magic to Spencer. Aaron had never seen such a procession of creatures. Aaron saw many that he had not seen in person since Humans had spread over the world more and more. One of which was the creature that was sitting at the end of the bed eating chicken wings. Morgan had brought dinner to Aaron, bringing enough for Spencer as well, just in case. Usually, when Spencer didn't awake after an hour, Aaron shared with whatever creature was visiting. This creature, though, Aaron wasn't sure that he should have shared food with it, but it had been staring at his wings.

"So," Aaron said because the Kelpie had been rather talkative until it had started to eat. "Why are you all doing this?"

"Why shouldn't we?" The Kelpie looked up at Aaron, dropping the chicken wing bone down into the box and picking up another. "He will protect us all in the years to come, and we need to protect him when we can. He gave much up to save your life. Magic travels, and we all felt it. His magic battled to save him while trying to destroy him as well."

Aaron thought about what he had felt. He thought it was Spencer breaking the runes. He had not considered that it was what started to cause what was wrong with Spencer. Betsy was sure that he would wake up, but Aaron wasn't so sure anymore.

"He's going to wake up, isn't he?" Aaron asked.

"So weak," The Kelpie said. It dropped the last wing into the box and used its weirdly shaped hand to pick up a napkin to wipe its fingers on. "You fear too much, Lord Hotchner. You fear to lose him so much that you don't enjoy what you have with him. Are you going to fear losing him for the rest of your life and not live with him?"

"I don't-" Aaron stopped as the Kelpie looked at him. He felt like it could see into his brain, into his soul.

"Do you wonder why you have not had the time with him that Tria and Serena have enjoyed that your three children will enjoy?"

"Yes, I've thought of little else lately."

"Magic provides, but magic cannot just direct everyone where to go at every single moment in time. So it puts things in motion. It trusts that those it tells what to do will do that. It seems that there are magic people in the world that thought that Spencer having his mate with him would cause issues. Actively there has been at least one person in his life stopping him from finding you. The rest has been just really bad timing."

"How do you know this?"

"Because we came at his call."

"His call? Whose call?"

"You think that his screaming to the world was him making Ethan afraid for his life?" The Kelpie crawled up the bed and Aaron would have shielded Spencer except for Spencer's arm moved, and the Kelpie reached out and touched it. "He's our master. He's our savior. Over the years he made friends, and we are the ones who answered the call. We made sure that you were found. We scoured the lines and found you. We are his court, and we will be here when he becomes the lord of this land. We will be his spies and his carriers of justice, as you, and he sees fit. He was calling us to his side as he fought the man that has done this all to him. It took five years to find him. It took five years of searching everywhere only for him to be found by a Brownie of all things, but we knew that we could not free him. So we made sure that the BAU was called in. We were not aware that his mate was there to free him. That Brownie now lives in luxury back at her home. She'll want for nothing as long as she is alive."

"Ethan was keeping us apart?"

"Ethan is just the newest, but Alan is finding that cancer, and it's at home in England. I would say before the end of the day there will a huge Dragon on the TV, and it won't be Reed. I think that Tria is finally going to come out and take control of those who are magical who are under her control. She'll control all of the East until such a time the next Dragon comes of age. Just as Lord Spencer will rule all of the Americas until the tosser hiding in New Orleans comes out, and he'll help rule until a later time that he goes where he's supposed to."

"And where is he supposed to go?"

"Who knows. We don't know where the new Dragons are going to pop up. Tria has Europe. Bri will take South America and Lord Spencer North America. The tosser will end up in Asia or Australia. I know where the egg for Antarctica is but it's not near ready to hatch."

"Why do you call him a tosser?" Aaron asked.

"Because he's a tosser. That's all you need to know. I keep my secrets." The Kelpie huffed at Aaron and reached out to touch Spencer better. Aaron felt it, the transfer of magic, but he felt something else in that. He felt something feral and old. The Kelpie had been wherever the other Dragon was in New Orleans.

"Aaron," Spencer said as he rolled into Aaron more, his body moving in a way that it hadn't in two days. Spencer's eyes opened up, and he looked around, settling on Aaron for a few seconds before he moved his eyes to the Kelpie. "You."

"Me. Happy you are awake, Lord Spencer. We no staying away anymore. We coming home. Lord Hotchner has land for us. We settle, and we make a proper home. You no get a say in it."

"Who said I have land for you?" Aaron asked.

"It can read minds a little bit. Surface things. You must have been thinking about buying that land again around him. Be gone with you and take everyone with you. I can feel them, you know." Spencer exhaled through his nose, and Aaron saw smoke. The Kelpie screeched like a child and took off, disappearing into thin air. Aaron felt a buzz at the back of his mind disappear. He had thought it was his bond with Spencer being stretched, but it seemed that it was the creatures that had come to help Spencer.

"How are you?" Aaron asked.

"Good, I think." Spencer raised his arm out and flexed his fingers. "It feels odd to see an arm. I'll have to work the muscles in my wings back up. Thankfully I can do that easily while working."

"While working?" Aaron asked.

"Oh, yes. Sitting on the back of the chair at work and gripping tightly with my claws and just flapping them. I did that a lot in the house after you rescued me. I didn't just sit around and read. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing pretty good actually. I talked with the Kelpie a little, and I think that I need a little more time to think, but I don't think that I have any reservations anymore on the bond with me and the kids, or even the bond between us."

"I feel that it's deeper. It feels like the bond between Tria and Serena. I like it a lot. I like the feel of it. It feels…intimate. You had five thousand years to make yourself closed off to opening up to people, Aaron. I never begrudged you taking time until it started to hurt the kids. They can feel that difference between the bond between us and knew that there was something different. You just have to stop mourning what we lost that we never knew that we could have and celebrate the long life we have ahead of us."

"I will. I'll try and quit being a Debbie Downer and be happy. Just give me time."

"I'll give you all the time in the world." Spencer reached up and touched the side of Aaron's face, it was just a simple caress of fingers, but to Aaron, it felt damned good. He closed his eyes and held in the moan that wanted to come out. He would do something very embarrassing otherwise. "I do want to formally apologize for my emotions while I was stuck in Dragon form. I did not do well on it after being able to go back and forth for so long after being stuck in Dragon form."

"Hey, as long as we talk, really talk and work things out everything will work out in the end and that's all that I care about, Spencer. I just want you. I want you forever. I want you to be there when I wake up, and when I go to sleep, I want you in my life until our end days. I want you to be by my side when we finally fall in that great battle for the world that will be the only thing allowed to take us out."

Spencer smiled at Aaron and pulled him down. Spencer rolled onto his back and tugged on Aaron until he was settled over him. "Our hiding of emotions will be our downfall, I think. We'll fight and then apologize and make love and won't that sex be just great. I agree though as long as when we have a hold of what is wrong, and we talk I think we will be fine forever."

Aaron sealed that with a kiss. He braced his arms on the bed, trapping Spencer against the bed. Aaron felt hunger for him in a way that Aaron hadn't felt for a long time. He felt Spencer move around to where his legs were on either side of Aaron's. Aaron felt his erection press into his softer cock but feeling that made Aaron start to harden. Aaron laid down more, covering Spencer's body and started to rock them together. Aaron wasn't sure what Spencer wanted, but the thought of coating Spencer in his release made Aaron's blood sing.

Pushing up, Aaron looked down at Spencer who was looking at him with longing and lust in his eyes. Aaron had not that great of control on his magic, so he actually uttered the words of the spell to strip them naked instead of just pushing his intent into his magic. As soon as Spencer's clothes were on the floor around them with Aaron right there as well, Aaron was reaching down and wiggling his hand between Spencer and the sheets. He found the runes on Spencer's skin and pressed them to clean Spencer out and then lube him up. Aaron didn't touch the rune that would open up Spencer a little. He leaned back, grabbing Spencer's knees and spread him wide. Spencer grabbed his own legs after a few seconds, and Aaron could use one of his hands to line up his cock with his lover's hole.

It felt like that first time again as Aaron slide into Spencer ever so slowly. He shuddered through the feelings of tightness and perfection as he sunk his cock into Spencer. Aaron watched Spencer's face as he was filled and while the lust and longing didn't go away, those two warred with contentment. Aaron stayed pressed inside of him like that for a few minutes, letting Spencer adjust to the penetration before doing anything else.

Aaron waited for Spencer to let go of his legs and wrap them around Aaron before he pulled out just a little to push back in. Aaron braced one arm on the bed above Spencer's head where it was tilted up just a little. It helped him get the leverage he wanted for the pace that he wanted. Spencer gripped his hips with his legs, and Aaron was pretty sure that he might have bruises there, Spencer's legs felt damned strong. Spencer's hands grabbed Aaron's upper back, pulling Aaron down further to him, clashing their mouths together. Aaron felt the electricity dancing on his skin, but it didn't hurt, it just made his nerves feel every single stroke of his cock inside of Spencer all over his body instead of just on his cock.

Spencer's nails or probably more his claws dug into Aaron's skin, holding him right where Spencer wanted him which was on top and as close as he could get. Aaron felt the throbbing of the bond between them, racing them both to completion. Aaron felt the claws disengage from his skin and then nails were raking down as he thrust up into Aaron's body, nearly dislodging him. It wrenched their mouths apart. Then Spencer was clamping around his cock like a vice. Aaron had no choice but to follow him over into orgasm.

Aaron slumped down onto Spencer, not even trying to move his weight off of Spencer's chest. Aaron could hear Spencer panting, his breath ghosting over his ear. This was something that Aaron had missed, the feel of Spencer beside him, sweaty skin trying to stick them together.

"I love you," Spencer whispered into Aaron's ear.

"I love you too," Aaron said back. He started to push himself up to where he could slip to the side for them to really cuddle, but just as he was nearly all the way the door to the room opened. Aaron balanced on one arm, pressing Spencer down into the bed as the two people entered the room. It took Aaron's eyes a few seconds to adjust from looking for weapons, which each of them had, to looking at faces. Before Aaron could register the faces fully, they were both stepping back out of the door, and it was being slammed shut.

"You could lock the door, you know!" Dave yelled out.

Aaron started to laugh a little, but Spencer wiggled his hand free of Aaron's body, and Aaron heard the door lock.

"Asshole," Dave bellowed. It wasn't a yell like the sentence before but was loud enough that Aaron was pretty sure that the nurse's station heard it. "I'll tell Betsy you are awake, so you better get decent. I'm sure she won't mind showing your asses off to the world."

Aaron buried his face in Spencer's neck, laughing so hard that he was shaking the bed, though that could have been from Spencer's laughs as well. It wasn't but a moment later that there was a knock at the door and a voice calling through it.

"I'm finishing my rounds and will be back in eight minutes. I expect you both clean!" Betsy called out.

"Who is that?" Spencer asked.

"Our very skilled healer. She's very much like a military healer in that she expects to be followed. We should probably get cleaned up and dressed. Why don't you shower? I bathed over the past three days, you have not had a real bath. I can use magic to clean up and be fine."

"A shower does sound good." Spencer didn't let Aaron go through, wrapping his arms around Aaron even tighter. Aaron let him lay like that for a minute longer before he forced the issue by getting out of Spencer's hold. Spencer grumbled but walked on his own to the bathroom, grabbing clothes from the go bag on the chair by the bathroom.

Betsy wouldn't make them undress for checking him over, Aaron knew that. Aaron used the mirror over the sink in the room to check out his back. There were scratches up and down it as well as a few small puncture holes form Spencer's claws. Aaron cast a few spells on them to clean them up and make sure they were sealed to where nothing would get in while they healed before he cleaned up his body. He changed into the relaxing clothes that he carried in his go bag after a quick, clean up spell to make sure that the evidence of what they had done was removed from his body. He didn't like using spells to clean up long term, the spells did not do as well as soap and water but were good for quick things. Aaron was just finishing pulling his shirt over his head when the door unlocked itself and Betsy was stepping in. She looked around, looked at the bathroom door, and nodded.

"Good. I'll check you over before I get my hands on him. Turn around and lift the shirt."

"I already took care of my wounds," Aaron said, but he did what she told him to do and turned around. He felt her fingers on his back and tried to settle the swell in magic that was building to push here away. Aaron had not felt anything like it before.

"Your back looks good though I am not sure that flying home in a jet is going to be the best thing for you," Betsy said.

"Why?" Aaron asked as he dropped his shirt and turned around to look at the woman.

"I felt that rise in magic, Agent Hotchner. It's like you two are newly bonded, and both of you are going to see people touching you as a threat. Being up that high in a metal can with a feral Dragon, no matter his age is not going to do well at all."

"How else are we supposed to get home?" Aaron asked.

"You let me worry about that. Now go and fetch him. The water shut off and he should be dry at this point."

Aaron walked to the bathroom door at the same time that it opened. Spencer was indeed dressed, and he was mostly dry, he was still rubbing at his hair with a towel in his hand. He looked at Betsy, blinking a little before he smiled at her.

"Hello, Ma'am," Spencer said.

"Don't Ma'am me. My name is Betsy, and I thank you for calling me that." Betsy pointed at the bed, so Spencer walked over and set at the foot of it. He reached out and touched Spencer's arms a little before raising one up and looking at it. "Well, Spencer. Your body's not in as bad of shape as you thought. As a Dragon, you have six limbs, so coming back to human form means that there is only four. It seems that while you have not used your wings for anything in a long time, your magic combined your front legs and wings into your arms when it compacts back. I would like you to change into Dragon form please, so I can actually check that."

Spencer nodded his head and moved back just a little on the bed before he started the transformation. Reed settled on the bed, in about medium dog size and looked at Betsy. She reached out and touched his wings, running her fingers across the delicate bones as well as the nerves and muscles that ran between them.

"Turn," Betsy said.

Reed turned around and planted his butt on the bed. Aaron felt that response in his magic as Betsy touched around on Reed's scaled back and around the base of his wings.

"Hoover six inches above the bed." Betsy stepped back, and Reed unfurled his wings to do as she asked. He flapped his wings a few times and hesitantly started to lift himself up off the bed. Aaron watched for him, tiring out. He was over the bed, so if he fell, it wasn't going to be an issue. "Ten," Betsy said as Reed hovered in the air at half a foot. He raised up just a slight bit more with her words.

"That makes me feel better," Aaron said as he stepped around the bed to hold out his arm for Reed to settle onto. He shrunk down to about the size of a parrot and landed on Aaron's arm. Aaron did his own exam with his magic. Feeling for the burn of magic in Reed's muscles. There was none. Reed's muscles were not trying to heal being overworked. "His legs got a lot of workouts as he learned to jump around in a world he was used to flying in. So you think he's fine as far as his muscles go?"

"Only time will tell. I think so, yes. Which is good because I think you flying home on him would be better than sticking you in a tin can with your team up in the air with your bond as strong as it is. I don't know why you two are acting like you are newly bonded and I don't care to know why. You are healthy as far as I can tell, and that means you can get out of my hospital so I can focus on sick people." Betsy was smiling as she said it and that took the sting out, but still, Aaron laughed.

Reed jumped off of Aaron's arm and landed on the bed to shift back to Spencer. He held out his hand for Betsy to shake. Betsy left with just a nod to Aaron.

"Ready?" Aaron asked.

"Let's go help the team get the case wrapped, and the files taken care of."

* * *

Even though Spencer had been released from the hospital the day before, the team didn't get to leave right then. The case needed to be wrapped up with the state police. Once Ethan had crossed county lines, the state police had taken the case from the locals who were more than happy with giving it up.

Spencer's blood still boiled a little with the fact that Ethan had survived Spencer's first effort to end his life. Every free moment that Spencer had where his brain wasn't focused on the case, Spencer thought about that day. He had sworn that Ethan had bled out beside him after he had been chained up, but now Spencer was questioning everything. He wondered if he had just made himself think that to give himself peace of mind. There had been scars on Ethan's neck that said that Spencer had not been imagining trying to rip his throat out.

"Hey," Aaron said as he came up behind Spencer. He wrapped an arm around Spencer's stomach and pulled him close. They were on the airport tarmac as the rest of the team was getting ready to leave to head home. Spencer was sure of himself for the flight home, even if not, it wasn't like they couldn't settle down somewhere and rest until Spencer could go again. The flight was going to be Spencer's test to see if he was ready to go to work fully as an agent again. He would still have to do the firearms testing, but Spencer was damned good with guns, so that wasn't an issue.

"Hey, yourself," Spencer said. He watched as Morgan got out of the SUV. Aaron and Spencer had arrived first to load up their things in the jet. Spencer didn't want to carry luggage as well as Aaron, so they were going to ship it back with the team. If they needed to spend the night somewhere, they could just clean their clothes with magic.

"Ready for this?"

"For what? Not dropping you as we fly over most of the US?" Spencer was smiling as he said and knew that Aaron could understand the tone of his voice. While they had not done long stints of Aaron flying on Reed, Spencer had made sure that if needs must, Aaron could do it.

"You'd never drop me, on accident that is."

"And let that be a lesson to you." Spencer felt Aaron squeeze him just a little. The team was done loading up their things and were all waiting at the base of the stairs into the jet. Spencer hadn't got used to them looking at him like he was strange. It would take time to get used to him as a human again. Morgan hadn't stopped touching Spencer's shoulder every time that he came close. It was a way to not freak out Spencer, but it irked Aaron every single time, so Spencer agreed with Betsy that flying with the team and especially flying commercial was out of the question. If Spencer wanted he could probably open a magical rift to transport them home quickly, but he didn't feel like. He wanted the trip home for him and Aaron. To get settled in his Dragon form in the way that he was meant to be.

"You call us if you need anything," JJ said, looking at Aaron and Spencer like she was never going to see them again.

"At top speed, it'll take me thirteen hours to fly home. I'm going to be at a size where Aaron's weight isn't' going to be bothering me. I'll be below plane altitude, and it's not like if Aaron did call from in the air, you would hear him. Even with the spells, Aaron is going wrap around himself the sound of the wind on the shields will make it so that no one can hear him. He'll be safe. I've never lost a rider that I didn't take into the air to kill."

Morgan snorted at that, and Spencer just gave him a wicked grin. The other agent talked to Spencer about some of the wars he has fought in over the years, but Spencer had not come to the Americas until late.

"You know I always forget to ask," Morgan said as he turned to go up to the stairs into the jet. He stopped at the bottom and looked at Spencer and then at Aaron. "Neither of you have accents."

"I've been here too long and have lost any semblance of an accent that's not Virginian. That accent slips through if I'm tired. I've been in this area since colonists first landed here."

"What accent do you want?" Spencer asked with a thick Irish brogue. "Anything in particular?" That time it was an Australian accent. "I'm a child of the world. I could probably spend my life roaming it and be happy, but I'm finding this area and this life a little better. I've lived everywhere. I went to South America first and made my way up. I settled in New Mexico for a little while before going to Canada and then came back here. I was good at living anywhere. Did a five years stint in the forest of Brazil without seeing another person. I have journals of most of my years since paper was invented all saved. Preservation spells are pretty good. There is a witch in Africa that has recently made a successful transcription spell. Works for every language that she's encountered so far. I'm thinking of doing that with them and one day publish them. I haven't decided on that yet. Though I might have to flesh out certain parts. Or just turn it into a fiction series and really have fun with it."

Aaron laughed, and the jet started up. "Time for you to go."

"Yes, it is," Rossi said as he waved goodbye before turning. He passed Morgan and got onto the jet.

"Look, I know it takes a day to get home but have some fun, stop and smell the roses. If it takes you a few days, it takes a few days. I'm sure that after being kidnapped, tortured and put into the hospital between the two of you, there is some time off." Prentiss was looking at Aaron as she spoke.

"Oh, I have a week off before I have an appointment with a psychologist to see if I need more therapy for this. Spencer's to have an appointment in three days. So really even if we do take our time, we have a deadline."

JJ, Morgan, and Prentiss said their goodbyes and Aaron and Spencer backed up to where there was room for the jet to take off.

"So you never did answer me, do you have to file a flight plan?"

"No. As long as I stay under the areas where planes fly, I will be fine. This was discussed a long time ago because other magical creatures will not file flight plans, especially if they are going to mating grounds. Yes, if I am spotted in the areas, I am not allowed, someone is going to do something about it but not before that. You've read up on the spells you need, right?"

"Yes. I practiced them in the shower too, since you suggested that. They worked perfectly."

"Good. Get ready."

Spencer jogged over to an area that was just far enough from Aaron for him to get as big as he wanted. He felt the ripple under his skin of Reed wanting out. Reed might have been out for a long time, but he had not been out to where he could really do what he wanted, and that was fly. Spencer was looking forward to that as well. He let that baser side of him take over, it hungered to fly, to master the skies again. It was Reed left for those few seconds that it took to grow to the size of a small house. He shuddered through the feeling of growing just that little bit bigger. Unlike actual reptiles, Reed's bones were more like birds, and while he had meat on his bones, he was a slim Dragon, when he wanted to be. Just like his size, he could manipulate his body weight as well, for flying, he liked to be slim and svelte as Tria called it. Reed looked at Aaron, who was layering the spells that he needed on his person. He shook out his body, letting his wings flap as he wanted them to. It felt good.

It felt so good to be in the sun and feel that sun on his wings. It felt so damned good that Reed didn't want to go back inside for days. It was going to be nice to be up in the skies and doing what he wanted as far as flying home. The size of his wings was going to help him get home quickly but only if he flapped like that. Instead, Reed planned on taking it slow. He planned on enjoying the scenery and enjoying the feel of Aaron on his back.

"Ready?" Aaron asked as he stepped up to Reed's front leg, getting ready to climb up on him. Reed tipped to the side a little and lowered his wings to where they would not be in the way. He felt the magic of the invisible saddle wrap around him. The spell was one of the oldest magic available and all Dragons who were capable of carrying someone had learned it innately. It was interesting for Reed to research over the years what spells came easily to him without thinking, and those that he had to learn a little more about.

Aaron's weight settled on his leg and them climbed up slowly, testing the invisible footholds as he moved up. As soon as he was settled into the saddle, the footholds disappeared from Reed's scales, making sure no enemy could climb up if Reed and Aaron were in a land battle. Though on land, Reed tended to fight in human and not Dragon form.

"Yes," Reed said as Aaron settled into the saddle. It took but a few seconds for him to be settled into the saddle. Reed flapped his wings a few times before he actually tried to take off. Aaron didn't move at all in the saddle, telling Reed how comfortable he was. Their trips had been few and far between on testing out the saddle and Aaron flying, and it had been a long while since they had done it. Aaron laughed a little as Spencer shot them up through a low hanging cloud before diving back down some. Reed felt the saddle tighten just a little and it became a little heavier on him. Aaron had activated the higher features that allowed for combat maneuvers. As soon as those were settled, Reed took off, finding an updraft and letting it take him into the clouds again before diving down and rolling.

Reed lost time as he flew, listening in the bond for how Aaron was doing as talking was going to be impossible and while they could talk over the bond, there was just something about doing this and existing together that stopped Reed from speaking with his mind. He shot through a cloud and dove down to scare a group of birds. He felt the laughter of Aaron over the bond before something else took over Reed's awareness. He felt the magic of an ancient forest that Reed was pretty sure that was older than Tria and Serena. He felt it when he crossed over the border between human land and magical land, hidden in a pocket of reality. It was like the TARDIS almost, bigger on the inside than the outside. It felt good to be in such a magical place. He skirted the entire edge of it, making a big loop and figuring out where he was. Kentucky. They were in Kentucky. In the wilds that were set up for the magical creatures that did not do well with humans. None of them would touch Aaron and not even try and get close to Reed.

Landing in the middle of a clearing that was just big enough for him, Reed settled, feeling Aaron start to slip off of him. Reed shrunk down a little but stayed huge, soaking up the magic of the location. Aaron walked around to stand in front of him.

"A break already?" Aaron asked.

"Do you know where we are?"

"I think around Kentucky but exactly where, no."

"Magical Preserve."

"Those are locked down. How did you get through it?"

"I set this one up. That's why I know it, and I am a magical creature, Aaron. I can get into any of them."

"Why are we here?" Aaron asked.

"Wish fulfillment." Reed inhaled deeply, taking in the magic that was all around them. It was soaked into the air, into the ground. Reed wondered how the water tasted, infused with magic as it was. Reed kept inhaling until his lungs were at full capacity and then he exhaled, all on Aaron, funneling the air until it nearly blew him back off of his feet. Aaron stumbled back and glared at Reed, ready to react at what was happening to him. Nothing was happening though, and Aaron just glared more at Reed.

"What was that for?" Aaron asked.

* * *

Aaron felt the magic wash over him, but he didn't need it. He shuddered as the magic seemed to cling to his skin after he asked Reed what that wash of magic was for. Reed did nothing except drop his head down and raise his butt up. Aaron felt his blood start to pump, and his eyes widened before he turned around and took off running. Reed was just big enough that he would have to shrink before following him so Aaron ran as hard as he could to get a distance between them. Aaron made it about a half of a mile before he felt Reed's nose shove at him and he tumbled to the ground. Aaron rolled onto his back, he was looking up at Reed's face, tipped down to look at him. Reed's eyes were glowing like he was casting a massive spell, but Aaron couldn't figure out for the life of him what the hell kind of spell Reed could be casting. Aaron felt the magic of the ground surging up into him. This was a sacred spot, a place filled with magic from the crossing of major worldwide leylines. Aaron shuddered as he thought about what it could mean, Reed, pumping him full of magic.

Trying to get to his feet after rolling over, Aaron found that his limbs were not cooperating. He looked down and saw shiny black all over his arms. Aaron was able to push himself to his knees and then to where he was kneeling on the ground. The blackness was creeping up all over him. It was interesting to see the prettiness of the scales on him. His vision started to change, it turned sharper. He could see the small marks on his scales, see himself in the scales. Aaron felt more magic pouring into him as he breathed. Aaron tried to stand, but his body would not do it. Instead, he fell over, not in pain but because it was what his body wanted. He grunted as a weird sensation enveloped him and then he was looking down at the forest floor from a lot higher than he had been. He looked up to see that he was seeing limbs of trees instead of the underside and the trunk. There was also Reed right at the corner of his eye.

Aaron stumbled back, crashing into a tree as he realized that Reed was the same size as him. As he looked down at the body that was under him, what was his body. It was a little freaky.

"Run," Reed said.

Aaron swallowed and boy that felt very weird to him. He turned to look around before he felt Reed take a step closer to him. He looked at Reed, locking their eyes.

"Run," Reed said again, and this time the tone washed over Aaron and made him turn tail and run, literally. He felt his tail crash into a tree, and it didn't feel like it would have felt if he had crashed a leg into a table or anything, it felt like a tail. Aaron took off as fast as he could, stumbling a lot until he got the hang of running on four legs.

Aaron knew that he was a Dragon. He knew that it was something that Reed could do, but he was shocked that Reed had actually done it. It had been a little wish, a fantasy of theirs. Aaron had not expected for Reed to actually turn him into a Dragon and stalk him through the woods. Aaron felt the ground shuddering from their combined girths landing on it. He heard the running of animals away from them, magic helping them know to run as the forest was dominated by two creatures that were very much at the top of the food chain. Aaron hoped as he ran, that he would not get hungry. He had snacked on some things in the safety of his shelter on Reed's back, but he was not sure that he wanted to snack on raw, recently dead animals that he caught. That was going a little bit too far on becoming a Dragon to him. Aaron didn't know how he knew, but he knew that Reed was getting ready to lunge at him from the left, so he swerved the other way. He heard Reed crash into a tree.

Time was not a factor as Aaron dodged and weaved away from getting caught by Reed. He tried to get away using the forest, but even when he found a hiding place, Reed knew where he was, and it wasn't over their bond. The only thing that Aaron could feel in the bond was the rush of blood through veins, the thrill of the hunt, and the mounting lust that was forming in Reed. Aaron knew that he was going to get caught, but he wanted it to be the last thing, not Aaron giving up. His own lust was leaking all over the bond, he knew that he just didn't care. If this was a game, Aaron wanted it dragged out as long as possible. He saw a cliff coming up and wondered where it went he rushed toward it, running alongside it so that he didn't fall into it.

Aaron knew that he should have been paying closer attention to the bond, he would have felt that rush of satisfaction before it felt like a wall hit him. Whatever hit him made him tumble over into the ravine made by the cliff, all that was below was trees and water as far as Aaron had seen. It wasn't until he saw the flash of color, red and purple that Aaron realized that it was Reed that had slammed into him. They were both unable to get their wings under them, but Aaron felt the magic of the area, helping to make sure that they were like a cat and landed feet first. Aaron tried to get his legs under him just seconds after landing, but Reed had upped his size and was quite effectively holding Aaron in place.

Trying to slip away, Aaron tried to make himself small by almost wishing it, but it seemed that Reed was in control of the what the wild magic did to Aaron, so he did not change in size. He felt Reed's mouth clamped on his shoulder, and he roared in surprise but not pain because it was just hard enough for him to feel but not enough to get through the scales on his skin. Aaron felt his tail being grabbed by something, and he didn't realize that it was Reed's tail until he felt it coil down below. Aaron didn't understand what was happening with his tail until it was jerked up and over, giving Reed access to his ass.

"Aaron?" Reed asked, his voice sounded different. There was more something to it, but Aaron was only thinking about what Reed wanted to do. He couldn't focus on what was different at all.

"Yes." Aaron moved just enough to shove back into him. "Fuck, yes."

Aaron felt a swell of magic, and then Reed was pushing into him. Reed was bigger, so his cock felt huge, but it didn't hurt as it entered Aaron. His Dragon body adjusted to it a lot better than his human one. All Aaron felt was pleasure. Reed was mounting him, and all Aaron could do was stay there and take it. He wanted more, he wanted all of it. He tried to thrust back into Reed but from the position that he as in with Reed's mouth still locked on his shoulder he couldn't.

"I don't know if you are lucky or unlucky," Reed said as he finally let go of Aaron's shoulder, but Aaron still couldn't move as Reed pushed up and one of his forelegs pressed Aaron down into the ground. There was a base part of Aaron's brain that he had never felt before, outside of battle. The part of him that was fight or fuck that was not at the forefront of his mind, and all it wanted to do was revel in the fact that if this was something else if Aaron was someone else this could be seen as breeding. Aaron had never ever wanted to be female, but this part, right here and now, to know that he was the center of Reed's world for at least a little while was everything. To know that he was wanted enough to breed, was something that was fucking with Aaron's human brain a little but not enough for Aaron to put a stop to it.

"Why?" Aaron finally said as he got his words back.

"This is so much better than every single fantasy I've had about it. I'm going to want this time again, and maybe I'll let you do it to me just once. Once you've got a handle on being a Dragon that is."

Aaron dug his hands, his claws, into the earth under him. He tried to find purchase but he could not. Reed was all around him, his legs now on either side of Aaron, his belly pressing Aaron down into the ground, keeping Aaron right where he wanted him. Reed's thrusts grew harder, faster, more intense. Aaron knew that he was getting close and he figured that Reed was as well because it felt too damned good to them both.

The roar that Reed let out when he came made the trees shake and the earth to shudder. Aaron felt it throughout his entire body, down into the core of what he now was. He felt it as the claim that it was. Aaron couldn't have stopped himself from following Reed if he wanted to and he didn't. Aaron roared out his own completion, and it shook the trees just as much, his tone lower but no more powerful. Aaron slumped down to the ground as his limbs could not even hold him up anymore. Aaron tried to keep Reed inside of him, but the larger Dragon just pulled out, and Aaron felt him grow even bigger to where he filled nearly the entire clearing that they were in, he wrapped himself around Aaron, curling into a ball almost and keeping Aaron in the center of it.

Aaron felt the lure of sleep pulling at him after that rush around to evade Reed and then entire mating had just left Aaron worn out. He knew that he was going to wake up hungry. He wondered if there was anything in the whole place for him to eat, Reed as well.

"Food?" Aaron asked.

'Later, I'll catch you something and skin and cook it before feeding you. Let me sleep." Reed sounded tired, so Aaron didn't ask anymore. He could live with the food if it were cooked. He had no issue catching and killing animals to cook, he just had an issue with eating them raw. "Sleep."

"Yes," Aaron said, and he forced himself to settle down just a little more. His body was relaxed in a way it hadn't been since they had entered Montana. He felt Reed tighten around him just a little more. It felt damned good. Aaron thought about his plans for the land near the house and also had thoughts about something in the woods of Virginia where they could do something like this. He wanted to do this again, get in touch with his inner self more and let Reed out in a way that he couldn't be in daily life, not with Aaron. As long as they had each other, they would be fine forever but sometimes being totally bared to each other would be good, and in this form, there was no hiding mentally from each other.

"Don't make me force you to sleep like a Dragonling," Reed said, but his tone was fond, but still Aaron forced himself down to sleep. He could think about the future more later. Much, much later.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> I can be found on MeWe (a FB replacement that's better) [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot. My writing page for the moment is kind of dead in the water on a FB front as links are being banned for content.
> 
> The Criminal Minds Reverse Bang sign-ups are open until June 30th! Please check it out [here](https://criminalmindsbangblog.wordpress.com/).


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